Gould remarked 'The American Bittern is readily distinguished from its European relative by its great inferiority in size, by the upper surface being darker and much more minutely freckled, and by the feathers in the neck and breast having each a broad stripe of dark rusty red down the centre.'

There were at least five records of this Bittern in England, and in 1844 Gould handled a specimen killed on the estate of Jardine Hall, during his visit to the naturalist, Sir William Jardine.

The Bittern is three-quarters lifesize

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds locally in North America. Winters from southwest British Columbia and United States south to Panama, Greater Antilles, Bahamas and Bermuda. Rare vagrant to Britain, mainly in late autumn